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The Cephisi Reef
The Cephisi Reef Created by u/JFritz2308 GEOGRAPHY The Cephasi Reef is a coral reef in the Lautkatal Sea, along the north coast of Zemostros, home to the Elucians' aquatic city of Cephis, named after the reef. Its waters are fairly warm due to nearby hydrothermal vents, allowing a large degree of biodiversity to flourish. Within the city of Cephis the coral is noticeably different, having either been slowly guided through natural means or rapidly encouraged by magic to grow into the shapes of various buildings. BIOLOGY/ETHNICITY The Elucians are an intelligent race and advanced form of cephalopod. Most resembling squids and octopuses, they possess no skeletal structure and have brains located across their six tentacles. Elucians are completely aquatic and unable to survive outside of water for more than a few minutes before brain damage begins to occur. They communicate at a lower frequency compared to humans and other races and their language is quite alien when compared to that of races which live on land, when one speaks it has been described as sounding like a low gurgling sound more felt than heard. Like other cephalopods, Elucians are carnivorous, consisting for the most part of on a diet of fish. While naturally pale shades of grey, green and blue, Elucians are able to change their colour. Originally a way of expressing emotion and deterring threats, the darker the colour the stronger their feeling, they have since evolved to do so at will and can choose not to display their emotions so openly if they choose, or even display false colours to mislead others. However, as the Elucians are a collaborative and open race most still allow their emotions to be easily identifiable without viewing it as a breach of privacy, and those that don't are often viewed with suspicion and distrust. The Elucians are a genderless species, reproducing asexually without the need for a partner. Therefore they have no unique features tied to gender, however during interactions with other races some find it easier to define individuals as masculine or feminine, which they take no offence to and even sometimes embrace, adopting gendered pronouns when dealing with other races. The species has a single Monarch, which is larger than an average Elucian, which typically ranges between 4 and 5 feet in length, and have ten tentacles instead of the standard six. The Monarch has a considerably longer lifespan, averaging over 200 years as opposed to the standard 70, and its possible they could potentially live longer as a natural death has never been recorded. There is only one Monarch line, and they only have one child in their life after which they shortly die. Reference Picture - https://imgur.com/Ny9hdqh Racial Quirk The Elucian Monarch has a form of telepathic ability and holds the collective knowledge of the entire Elucian race, whenever an Elucian learns something of significance they present it the Monarch who then assimilates it into their memory. Each Elucian has a connection to the Monarch, a connection which their sixth tentacle plays a vital part in and without they are unable to access. Through this connection Elucians can request access to the collective knowledge which is seen as a great honour if granted and not asked for lightly. Distance affects this connection, if an Elucian ventures too far from the capital of Cephis where the Monarch resides it becomes strenuous and they may be unable to request access to the collective knowledge. After giving birth there is a several day long process during which the old Monarch transfers the race's collective knowledge to the new before their death. During this process some memories, especially those transferred many times, can become degraded, meaning some of the Elucians' oldest collective memories are the most difficult to understand. HISTORY Although the earliest memories in the collective knowledge are vague and primitive, as well as severely degraded, it is widely believed that its development is what caused the rapid advancement of Elucians as a species. Up until that point it is hypothesised there were multiple Monarchs using a form of low grade telepathy to lead individual shoals of Elucian, and while intelligent they were comparable to other creatures in the Cephisi Reef. The process of events as currently understand by studying these fractured first memories is that through a random mutation during its asexual reproduction resulted in a Monarch developing a stronger form of its mental ability, going from merely transmitting coordinated instructions to storing the memories of the shoal. This was a vast improvement, as any new skills learnt by an individual were shared amongst the shoal, and while still debated it is widely believed they were so efficient they out competed the other Elucian shoals as they concept of "others" drops from the collective memory at this point and there is only a strong community sense. From this point the memories show Elucians quickly advanced, as every development no matter how small made by an individual was contributed to the collective knowledge and pushed them forwards. At the same time social structure became more complex as did the customs surrounding the Monarch and the collective memory, resulting in the official start of modern Elucian history, the rough time period when the memories become more organised and far easier to understand as a system developed where only important advancements were presented to the Monarch and added. Since that point the Elucians have continued to move forward. While they're aware of the other races and nations, due to being an aquatic race they haven't had many dealings with those on land. However, several solutions are currently being researched to allow the Elucians to better interact with the nations on land. SOCIETY The Elucians are led by the Monarch of their species, a physically distinct Elucian that holds the collective knowledge of the entire race, making them the wisest and most suitable to lead. There is only one Monarch which gives birth to the next before death, it is impossible for an ordinary Elucian to become one as they are genetically different. Despite unquestionably being their leader, the Monarch doesn't often directly involve themself in the everyday running of things. Instead they are more of a remote guardian, protecting the most important knowledge and memories of Elucians from the ravages of time and granting access to worthy Elucians but otherwise maintaining a respectable distance. However, it is worth mentioning that this is only the standard practice and that there have been a small number of Monarchs in history that have deviated from this and taken an active role in governing the Elucians. These few examples vary wildly in motivation, from dire circumstances to ego, and while thought of as irregular is seen as the Monarch's right to do so. While the Elucians have several cities, the capital Cephis is easily the largest and is where the majority of the race calls home. The other cities, while still hubs of activity, are significantly smaller, most having been initially formed as research outposts or resource harvesting stations and growing as more Elucians moved to contribute to the work. The only other Elucian settlements are a handful of rare, scattered communities of Excised, the now five tentacled Elucians unable to comfortably live amongst the rest of their race after having had their connection to the collective knowledge removed. CULTURE Elucians are a highly collaborative species, while still individuals they have fewer boundaries or distinctions between them when compared to other races. They are a secular society, only concerning themselves with that which can be researched and understood and not putting much stock in believing through faith alone. They are dedicated to aiding each other and the species as a whole, and as a result value the pursuit of knowledge as it contributes to the collective knowledge and benefits the whole race. For the most part, Elucians view everyone as an equal as everyone can contribute to the race in some way. Those in research are especially respected as they actively further Elucians, but no occupation is looked down upon. The only members of society truly mistrusted and judged are the Excised, Elucians that commit a crime against their people so great they have their sixth tentacle amputated, forever cutting off their connection to the collective knowledge and marking them as separate. Elucians are so focused on group effort they are almost unable to comprehend how one of their own could work against them, and so once Excised an Elucian will never truly be able to re integrate into society. Although they have a strong community as a people, Elucians lack the strong family bonds held by other races. This is related to the fact that Elucians don't undergo a period of infancy, shortly after birth they learn all necessary basic skills from the collective knowledge. This means they never go through a period of complete dependence with their parent and so don't bond with them to the same degree as other races. Instead, all Elucians have the same general sense they are the product of the Monarch as it was them who imparted all important life skills onto them. Living in warm tropical waters, Elucians have no need to wear clothes for warmth and so are essentially naked. They feel no shame over this, having never developed the concept it was indecent or that their body was something to hide from others. Clothing would actually be a detriment, hiding away their colour changes and limiting the effectiveness of fast communication. The only thing an Elucian might wear is coral jewellery, as its creation shows a great step forwards in their crafting of fine objects. OCCURRENCE OF MAGIC Actual Elucian mages are fairly rare and often nowhere near as powerful as those of the other races. However, while magic users are rare magic itself plays a large role in society. Magic is neither feared nor held in supernatural esteem by Elucians, instead most view it as another field of knowledge to be explored. Treated almost like another science, much research goes into understanding how magic functions and its potential integration with other technologies. As an example, the Elucians have discovered that due to the nearby leylines the Cephisi Reef a unique species of coral has adapted to sort of slowly absorb the concentrated magical energy and they are investigating whether this store can be made use of in anyway. MAJOR EXPORTS/IMPORTS Exports Coral jewellery, kelp rope, fish, marine goods, medical and technological knowledge Imports Glass, metal, forged goods, foreign knowledge, anything that cannot be easily harvested or produced underwater Posts: The Cephisi Reef Elucian Jetters Meeting With the Land Dwellers